Wednesday, March 20, 2013

A Place for Everyone

I have often said that there is a place for everyone
in the church.God has uniquely created
each one of us with a set of skills and talents like no one else.The problem for many of us is in finding how (and
where) our gifts and talents match the needs of the church.Recently I announced two new ways in which
you can be involved.The first is one I
expect that many in the church can be involved, even if you are not especially
mobile.No strong backs or good knees
are needed.

During two recent meetings it was pointed out that we
have many guests in our church during the Perry Helping Perry food pantry and meetings
for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.So, it was suggested, why not provide a box in which our guests could
drop prayer requests?In this way we
could show our neighbors that we care about them and are willing to pray for
their needs.Everyone thought that this
was a good idea, but then we asked, if we do this for our guests, why not our
members as well?That made a lot of
sense as well.Over the next day or two
I got to thinking and it occurred to me that there was a problem.If we took prayer requests and promised to
pray about, for, and over them, who would do the actual praying?That’s
where you come in.Won’t you
consider being a part of our brand new, Trinity Prayer Team?We haven’t begun yet, but what I imagine is
that each month we will collect the prayer requests that we have received, type
them up, and send them to everyone on the Prayer Team, folks at church, at home
or even out of state.For the next month
we ask that you would pray for those people and things for which others have
requested prayer, and then, the next month we would do it all over again.Prayers could be said in the morning, in the
evening, during your regular prayer time, lunch time or anytime.So how about it?Will you join our team?Just let us know in the church office and we’ll
put your name on the list.

The second opportunity grows out of the amazing response
we had to our Advent Bible study.I
expected that if we had a dozen, it would be a nice group but some nights there
were fifty people in attendance.To me,
this suggests that our members and friends might like to be involved in a
regular Bible study of some sort.The
problem is that ten or twelve is as large as you really want a Bible study
group and if we break it down to groups that size, there is no way that I have
enough time to lead five Bible studies.So in order to offer enough Bible studies for those who might be
interested, we need teacher and leaders.But that’s a problem too, because lots of people will tell me that they
are afraid, or that they don’t know how to do that.I understand completely.That described me twenty years ago.But I learned how to do it.

It wasn’t that difficult to learn and if I
did it, you can too.

In order to solve two problems at once, I am
offering to teach a class of future teachers.Let me be clear about this, no
one who joins this class will be obligatedto teach anything.But if
you are interested, or curious, of think that, maybe, you would be willing to
teach a class if only you knew how to do it, or had a little more confidence,
then this is for you.Once we get a
handful of interested people, I will schedule a time that works for all of us sometime
between now and fall.During the class
we will talk about how to choose a Bible study, where to find them, how to
afford them, how to lead them, what other resources you might want, or need, or
can borrow, and I will try to answer any questions that anyone can think
of.What’s more, during the class, we
will all take turns (with lots of help and patience) teaching the class so
that, in the end, everyone will have new skills as well as some practical
experience.

Trust me, you can do this.

I already have two lists started, one for the new
Trinity Prayer Team and one for the “How to Teach a Bible Study” class.God has uniquely created each one of us with a
set of skills and talents like no one else.Could this be the thing you’ve been made to do?Let me know and I will add your name to the
list.

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